Church Granted Reprieve

June 10, 1988|By Carla Harris.

The pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church surprised his parishioners Wednesday night by saying he had put plans to demolish the church`s historic building on hold. He also reopened negotiations with the members by presenting a report outlining several options for determining the structure`s fate.

Unconvinced by the gestures, the church`s parish council then continued the ongoing feud with their pastor by following Rev. William Spine`s remarks with a unanimous vote asking for his resignation.

The 14-member council, the church`s main advisory group, does not have the authority to remove Father Spine, said Irene Miranda, the council`s president and head of its Committee to Save Holy Family Catholic Church. But the members hope that Wednesday night`s action will persuade Rev. Robert Wild, chief provincial for the Jesuit order in the Midwest, to replace him, Miranda said.

The 128-year-old Gothic church, at 1080 W. Roosevelt Rd., is owned and operated by the Jesuits, but Wild has said that it is up to Father Spine and the congregation to decide the fate of the church, one of the four oldest buildings in Chicago.

Father Spine said Thursday that he has ``put demolition on hold until we can look at all our options.``

He would not comment on the council`s request for his resignation but did emphasize that the council had no authority to make such a decision. He called the matter ``a little in-house dispute in a small parish.``

At the council meeting, which was also attended by Bishop Placido Rodriguez and archdiocesan representative Dean James Martin, Spine presented a report outlining options that included partial restoration, complete restoration and demolition.

But ``it`s too late for that,`` Miranda said. ``That he would even bring up demolition when that option is clearly not feasible now`` shows that he is not listening to the parish, she said.

Rev. Keith Esenther, Wild`s executive assistant, said he was ``puzzled``

by the council`s reaction to Father Spine`s report.

``I`m not sure what it is they`re looking for,`` he said. ``I don`t see how he could be more open than he was. I`m wondering if the people at the meeting got a chance to hear everything he was proposing.``

The provincial`s office plans no action at this time, Esenther said. He said that he hopes once the parishioners calm down, ``they`ll see that they`re not as separated as it would seem.``

Miranda, however, contends that the controversy has split the church, with parishoners on one side and Father Spine on the other. It has led to ``a lack of spiritual guidance,`` she said, with Father Spine ``intimidating members of the parish and staff and using the homilies on Sunday to condemn those who want to save the church.``

``When this first started, the reason they wanted to replace the church was cost,`` Miranda said. ``But we`ve shown there is interest out there, and there is money. It`s no longer that we can`t afford the church, and a new pastor coming in would size that up quickly.

``We`re challenging his authority as a pastor-and that`s the issue.``

Father Spine disagreed, saying the issue is that ``I am working to promote real unity within the parish``-no matter what building it is in. Miranda, he said, is ``just trying to get publicity.``

An ad hoc discernment committee made up of three priests, two nuns and five parishioners voted last November to demolish the dilapidated church rather than raise money to preserve it. Masses are now said in a small room adjoining the main part of the church, which has been closed because a leaky roof has loosened ornamental plaster.

The parish council later voted unanimously to reverse the decision to demolish, Miranda said, and began looking for sources of money to restore the building. A consulting firm estimated that full restoration would take at least $3 million, an amount Father Spine has said is far beyond the reach of the dwindling parish. About 250 families, most of them black and Hispanic, many of them poor, now attend the West Side church.

An anonymous Chicago-based company offered last month to cover the cost of reopening and maintaining the building for the next two years while parishioners raised funds to keep it open, but that offer cannot be accepted until the dispute with Father Spine is settled, Miranda said.

The parish council also has met with directors of the Chicago office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, who offered advice and encouragement, Miranda said.

The three buildings in the city older than Holy Family Catholic Church-the Widow Clarke`s House in the Prairie Avenue Historic District, St. Patrick`s Church west of the Loop and the old Water Tower on North Michigan Avenue-have been restored and declared landmarks.